British Columbians will be heading to the polls during the COVID-19 pandemic, and there are worries if election day will be safe.
But experts say it can and has been done safely.
“There should be no problems voting and all of us standing in line,” said Dr. Wayne Ghesquiere, an infectious diseases expert.
“If you’ve gone to the grocery store in the past six months, I think we have all experienced standing in line, outdoors, everyone watching who goes in, allowing people to go in at their designated time, and making sure the rooms where people are voting are not overpopulated by individuals.”
Elections BC says multiple pandemic precautions will be in place, including capacity limits, protective barriers, hand sanitizing stations, frequent cleaning of voting stations and frequently touched surfaces and Election officials wearing personal protective equipment.
“We have been working with Dr. Bonnie Henry’s office to develop our safe voting plans,” said a statement from Elections BC.
“[To] make sure that voters don’t have to choose between safeguarding their health and exercising their right to vote. All voters have the option of voting in person with protective measures in place or voting by mail.”
Voters will also be encouraged to wear masks.
Polling will be open on Oct. 24. Advance polling will be open from Thursday, October 15 to Wednesday, October 21 — along with mail-in voting.
B.C. isn’t the first province to take to the polls during the pandemic. New Brunswick just a week ago had their snap election and experts say things went well.
“They really strongly promoted vote early and vote safely,” said Suzanne Hindmarch, political scientist from the University of New Brunswick.
“They aggressively promoted the use of advance polls and mail-in ballots. We saw a significant increase in voters using advanced polls, about 130,000 voters in this campaign. We also saw a significant use of mail-in ballots. On election day itself, we saw physical distancing itself at the polling stations, use of masks and gloves along with other public health measures.”
But one problem of calling an election during the pandemic so quickly is the amount of time it’s going to take to get polling stations ready”
“Twenty-eight days was not enough for Elections New Brunswick to prepare for that election,” she said.
“You need to train your polling officers differently. You need to train them in the public health protocols of how to run an election safely during a pandemic. We also heard some accounts of people not getting their mail-in ballots in time.”
In just five weeks, British Columbians will see if the province can pull it off safely.
More information from Elections BC
Voting by mail
Voters don’t need a special reason to vote by mail. It’s an option for all eligible voters and a good option for voters who are not comfortable voting in person because of the pandemic.
To vote by mail, voters need to request a voting package. Voting packages can be requested now on the Elections BC website at elections.bc.ca/ovr or by phone at 1-800-661-8683. The vote-by-mail package will be mailed to the voter with instructions on how to complete it and return it to Elections BC.
Voter registration
Voters can register or update their information online at elections.bc.ca/ovr, or by calling 1-800-661-8683. Voter registration by phone closes at 8 p.m. (Pacific time) on Saturday, September 26. Voter registration online closes at 11:59:59 p.m. (Pacific time) on Saturday, September 26.
Eligible voters can still register or update their voter registration when they vote, but it will make the voting process longer for them. Elections BC encourages voters to make sure their information is up to date now so they can vote faster, help reduce lineups at voting places and support physical distancing.
Election official jobs
Elections BC is recruiting election officials to work at advance voting and on Election Day. Visit elections.bc.ca/jobs for more information.
Candidate nominations
Prospective candidates can submit completed nomination packages to Elections BC’s head office in Victoria until 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 23. Completed packages can be submitted in person or electronically. Beginning at 9 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 24, completed nomination packages must be submitted to the district electoral officer for the district the candidate intends to run in.
Candidate nominations close at 1 p.m. (Pacific time) on Friday, Oct. 2. The final list of candidates will be posted online at elections.bc.ca as soon as possible after nominations close.
District electoral offices
District electoral offices will be open in every electoral district across the province as soon as possible. Locations and contact information will be listed on the Elections BC website when available.
For more information about the provincial election, visit elections.bc.ca, follow Elections BC on social media, or call 1-800-661-8683.
Julian Kolsut
